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Big Bar

~Alex~

Flagship City, a small city next to the great lakes in the state of Pennsa. Though being a small city with the population of a little less than a hundred-thousand, Flagship City is known around the country for a few reasons. The first, and most obvious reason being two streets that run parallel to each other and cut a line right through the city. Acai Street, that runs from the docks at Lake Bell and continues past the neighboring township Creekford, and County Street, which starts halfway through the city and ends in Downtown Flag.

Everything can be found on these streets. Big name businesses like Walmart, Boscov's, and Starbucks to local businesses like Flagship City Bookstore, Bell-Beauty, and so on. Spare for traffic, everything is relatively easy to get to and so close to one another that sharing parking space is not uncommon.

Another reason why Flagship City is known is because of it's amusement parks. Places like Waldameer and Water World, and Splash Lagoon reside on opposite sides of the city but are resident only to Flagship City. Because Waldameer and Water World is an outdoor attraction, it's only open during the summer months, but Splash Lagoon is indoor and is open all year round.

The Bell-Casino is a popular place at any time of the day not only for the games and gambling, but also for the bars and elegant restaurants inside of it. The MillCreek Mall is popular with the youths. Lazer Tag, Heritage museums, Art museums, more bars than you can count, The Warner Theater, Lake Bell Speedway, The Flagship Zoo, historical buildings and restaurants, a church on almost every block, and on and on, all packed within this little twenty mile city.

In Downtown Flagship, across the street from a parking garage and snuggled between two unnamed buildings just off from County Street sits a bar and club ironically named Big Bar. I say "ironically" because it's not that big. The bar stretches from the entrance to the bathrooms in the back, lined with alcohol and at least four bartenders. To the left of the bar is a small clear area where the patrons could dance to the loud thumping music if they were drunk enough to. To the right, on the other side of the bar, was another small area with tables lining the walls meant to serve as the 'restaurant' part of the club. In the back, past the bar, sits the dejay on his podium playing well known and upbeat music that can be heard across the street. To the right of the dejay along the wall sits the restrooms, and where I was just exiting from.

I had come to Flagship City on a business trip to help out and manage a new firm we were opening, and a few of the bosses and employees wanted to treat myself and a few of my coworkers before we got down to the hassle of work in a few days. It was a nice gesture, and my colleagues certainly seem to be enjoying themselves, but it's not really my scene and I grow bored about an hour into the evening.

Jason, my colleague and friend, must have noticed because he makes his way around the bar stools to sit next to me when I sit down. He's holding a clear cup with a mix of alcohol and ice inside and wraps his free arm around my shoulders as I order a rum and coke for myself. "Alex, whats wrong man?" he yells over the music, alcohol strong on his breath.

I look at the red fox, smiling. "Nothing's wrong." I say. I don't yell like him because I know his ears pick up more than my short wolf ears. The bartender sets down my drink and I toss her a few bucks. I take my drink and hold it up, prompting Jason to smack his cup -a little to hard- into mine before we both take a swig.

The fox finishes his drink and sets in on the bar only for it to be whisked away by a different barkeep. "C'mon dude, don't lie to me. What's eating you?"

I laugh. "Nothing's 'eating' me, Jay. Just not my scene, that's all."

Jason nods a few times, ears flopping with the motion. He's definitely drunk. You can always tell with foxes because of their ears. "You need laid." he says, as if he's figured out the solution to my problem.

I snort and take another sip. He continues. "You work all the time back at home, and now you're in a new town with plenty of hot, drunk people, and you can't even enjoy that? You need to fuck. Loosen you up a bit."

"You offering?" I joke.

Jason shrugs. "You got a nice ass but it's the tits that do it for me."

I laugh and he smiles. "Well, if you're gonna be a stuck in the mud, I'm gonna go flirt with Haley. When you feel like lightening up a little, come find me." He takes the drink from my hands, takes a gulp of it, and hands it back before stumbling off towards the dance floor where a perky rabbit was dancing with a few of her girl friends.

I shake my head and watch the fox walk off before returning my attention to my drink. I probably only have a few more in me before I head back to the hotel. I look around the bar, watching my coworkers mingle and laugh and dance, some with each other, some with locals. It was a thursday night, so it wasn't that busy. My party probably made up about 40% of the patrons here, so it would be easy to at least start a conversation with someone, but everyone I know or know of is already drunk and I'm too sober to find the energy to do so.

Ah fuck it, I think and finish off the rest of my drink. I'll have one more and head out. I'll have the whole day tomorrow to look around the city or something while everyone else is dealing with their hangovers.

Just as I'm ordering from the barkeep, the entrance doors swing in and a party of ten or twelve people shamble into the bar. Most of them look pretty young, but a few look to be around my age, and they all clearly know each other, all talking and laughing with one another.

I'm about to turn back to my drink when one of them catches my eye. He's an arctic fox, not uncommon this far north, but he's the first I've seen, and even though it's the middle of summer, his coat is still a shiney vibrant white. He's wearing skinny jeans that leaves little to the imagination, a red tank top with a yin-yang symbol on the front, and a black, collarless button up t-shirt shirt over it. He's wearing a beanie with six different pins in it and three earring, two in his right ear, one in the left. On his right wrist he's wearing a chain bracelet, a leather woven bracelet, a grey beaded bracelet and a multicoloured skull bracelet.

He immediately stands out from the rest of them, not just because of his species and defined sense of style, but because he looked sort of... uncomfortable. He's ears are half down and he doesn't let his eyes linger on anyone or anything too long before he looks back down at the floor or an empty space at the bar.

The girl next to him is talking to him, to which he seems to reply, albeit vacantly. She's a slightly heavy set ermine, only looking heavier standing next to the thin arctic fox. She seems oblivious to his discomfort, taking him around to talk to people he clearly doesn't know or have an interest in talking to. However, I have to hand it to the kid, whenever he's addressed or speaking to someone, he looks like any other patron here; all smiles, laughs and charismatic enough to attract a few other to come speak with him. However, as soon as the ermine looks away or if he's not talking to anyone, he goes straight back to that uncomfortable look.

Watching him makes me chuckle a bit because Jason is the same way whenever he's bored or uncomfortable; never showing it until he's sure no one's looking. Must be a fox thing.

After a few minutes, their group breaks up and goes separate ways, some of them going to one or the other side of the bar, others collecting drinks and going to the dance floor while others just mingled with themselves. The fox and ermine and a few others take a seat at the bar a few seats down from me and I listen to them talk. They all seem to work together at a local retail store because they start gossiping about other cashiers and supervisors. The ermine, whose name is Alyssa, I learn, tries to include the arctic fox in on the conversations, who pitches a few words in here and there, but it's clear that he's not listening and sips on his drink daintily.

I sneak looks at him whenever I can, but I don't want anyone to think I'm being creepy, so I just keep my ear turned in their direction. Still kind of creepy, but I'm bored and there's nothing else interesting going on.

They talk for about twenty minutes and I already feel bad for the fox. All these people have little to talk about than gossip and it gets repetitive rather quickly. Luckily though, the longer they stand by the bar, the drunker they get. After a while, a few of the people in Alyssa's group want to dance, and Alyssa does too. She tries to include the fox in on this too but for the first time all night, he's adamant about not dancing.

The ermine gives up easily and goes off to dance with her friends, leaving the fox alone at the bar. I think about going over to talk to him, see if I can prove to be a better conversationalist than his friends, and I almost do when he catches me looking at him. But instead of an inviting look, he just smiles at me, raises his glass to me and slides off the barstool. I'm a little disappointed at missing my chance as I watch him round the bar to the other side, where he sits down with someone else that he came in with and starts talking to him. Even more to my dismay, he seems to get along much better with this person -a short bear- than the ermine and her friends.

I watch them talk for a little bit, thinking about going over there to talk to the arctic fox myself, but not wanting to intrude on his conversations. After about thirty minutes I almost give up and leave when I notice Alyssa making her way over to the bear and fox. I notice that the ermine and swaying slightly and stepping heavily, and the fox seems to notice her drunkenness too; his hears going down a bit as he stands from the barstool, as if to ready himself to run.

I watch her talk to the fox and only him, seeming to ignore the bear next to him. She steps in close to him, running her hands up and down his chest and stomach and I almost can't watch because of how awkward and stiff the poor fox looks. If he were more loose, I'd think they were a couple, but from the looks on his and the bears faces, they obviously aren't.

After a moment, the fox takes the ermines hands off from him and holds them in between them, saying something to her while he did. The uncomfortable look is gone and he's smiling and pointing at someone as he talks to her, and if I hadn't been watching him all night, I'd think he was being genuine, but I can already tell he's just using his charm to distract her.

Once he's done talking, the ermine shakes her head and says something else, taking her hands back.

Now it's the fox's turn to shake his head, then they stand there for a second, staring at each other.

Then, out of nowhere, the ermine lurches forward with pursed lips towards the fox's muzzle. The fox has amazingly quick reaction stepping back, but not too gracefully as he trips over the barstool and plants him into it on his rump. Alyssa stumbles before catching herself. The two stare at each other again before the ermine leaves, walking back over to my side of the bar and ordering another drink.

The bear and fox watch her leave too before returning to conversation with each other, but the uncomfortable look hasn't left the fox's face. I chuckle a little bit, thinking at how weird kids are now days. I'm glad he didn't kiss her, but she's certainly pretty enough and clearly interested in him, which means that he's either taken by someone else, or gay, which I'm hoping for the latter.

After a bit, a female bear joins the conversation, someone that they both know and like because the fox seems to lighten up a bit, but the male bear suddenly became more interested in speaking with the female more than the fox, thus more or less pushing him out of the conversation. The fox seems to be okay with this though, as he stands from his stool to say a few words with a black cat standing a few paces behind him absorbed in her own conversation before he makes his way back to my side of the bar, where he sits in the same stool and watches his friends dance.

I don't want to miss my chance again, so I take the opportunity to slide out of my chair and sit in the one next to him, making sure to catch his attention as I did so. "You seem bored." I say, smiling at him when he looks to me. He's so much cuter up close, and now that I'm this close, I can see that his eyes were a deep and defined emerald green, sparkling and dancing in the light of the club.

He smiles back and turns to face me. "I could say the same about you." He says, catching me off guard.

"Sorry?"

He chuckles. "Anyone who stares at someone as lame as me for as long as you have clearly has nothing better to do."

I didn't know weather to be offended or impressed, but he said in such a light and innocent tone, I chose the latter. I cough a laugh. "You noticed that, huh?"

"Kind of hard not to."

I spent an hour of my night watching and waiting for him to be alone so I could talk to him, and here I am at a loss for words. I didn't expect him to derail me as early as his first sentence to me. I realize I'm just staring at him like an idiot -again- so I shake myself free and force a laugh. "Sorry, you're just really attractive. Couldn't help myself."

His ear flicks bashfully and his smile wavers a bit. "Oh, well... thank you." He looks down at his hands and away from me. "You're not so bad looking yourself."

With a bit of renewed confidence, I scoot in a little closer. "Can I buy you a drink?"

The fox smiles and shakes his head. "No thank you, I'm good. I have to drive home tonight and I live all the way over in Creekford."

"That's the next town over, right?" I ask, trying not to think about his brush-off.

He nods. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"No, actually. I'm here on a business trip."

His ears perk a little. "Oh really, how long are you here for?"

I find it interesting that he didn't ask me what I do or where I'm from, rather just how long I'm here for. "A few weeks. Maybe longer. We have to get the firm set up and established and we never know how long it will take."

He nods. "Well, good luck with that." He says with such sincerity I just have to believe him, however he also sounded a bit dismissive and I don't want to stop talking to him yet.

"What do you do for a living?"

At this, the fox scoffs and shakes his head. "Nothing as glorious as business. I'm a cart pusher at a general goods store."

I look him up and down. He's easily one of the thinnest guy's I've ever seen. He couldn't have weighed more than 140 lbs and he goes around in a parking lot pushing rows of carts all day? This kid looks like he's never seen as much as a dumbbell before.

His laugh, as cute and light as he is, snaps me out of my judgment. "I already know what you're thinking, and yes, I know. But it's true, that's what I do."

"I believe you," I laugh. "Just thought you'd be a model or something."

The cute ear flicking returns and he looks away again. "I told you it wasn't anything impressive."

He's quiet again, so I take the chance to lean in a little to catch his attention. This close, I can smell him and he smells devine. Some sort of scent enhancer with a hint of strawberry attached. "You sure I can't buy you a drink?"

He looks back at me and seems to consider it this time, but again, after a moment, he shakes his head. "No, sorry." He sighs and must see the disappointment in my eyes because he continues. "Listen, you're really cute and nice and all, but I'm just not-..." he searches for words.

"Gay?"

"No, I'm interested- it's just that I'm not interested in... this..."

I tilt my head, confused. "This?"

He nods. "Like, one night stands, fuck-n-run, you know? Just not really my style. Hell, I didn't even want to come here but I was practically dragged here by my friend."

I hold my hands up and try my hardest to hide my discouragement. "Hey, I understand. If you're not interested in one night stands, you're not interested in one night stands." I say, and get an idea halfway through. "So give me your number and we'll get to know each other first." I say with a grin.

He stares at me for a second, processing what I had said, before he regains his composure. "Relentless, aren't you?"

I chuckle. "Part of my wolf charm." He starts to shake his head and before he can say no again, I go on. "All I'm asking for is a chance to get to know you. If you don't want to or decide you don't like me, I'll delete your number and you'll never hear from me again." I place my hand over my heat. "Promise."

"How do I know I won't wined up murdered somewhere?" He says with a smirk.

"Do I seem like the type?"

"Do they ever?"

"Touche."

He sighs, looks me up and down and hold out his hand. I smile widely and fish my phone out of my pocket and place it in his hand. He takes it and I watch the screen light up as he opens the contacts and starts to put his name in. When he's done, he hands it back and I look at his name and number. His number seems real enough, but under 'name' all that was written was The guy from the bar. When I look back up to ask his name, his stool was empty. I look around the bar, only to get a glimpse of his white fluffy tail disappearing behind the exit doors.

Cute, observant, coy, and a little mysterious.

I smile.

I think I'm in love.